Yogini posts experiences from On and Off the Mat

Watch: “The New Science Behind Yoga” ​created by UPLIFT

Please click the link below to view the video (find Source below and click the highlighted text), afterward click Comments [at the very bottom of this post] to share your review of the film and please do share with as many folks as possible, Thanks UPLIFT for making this important film, Namaste OM

Join us on a scientific exploration into the healing benefits of Yoga.

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I began this semester on a good note, starting with yoga! I take time everyday to go to the gym and workout any kind of stress I have for that day. I was glad to begin this term with yoga because I’ve heard from peers and remember from high school how calming and relaxing yoga can really be for my mental health. I already have fitness goals, but my mental anxieties is another challenge I would like to tackle. This video really helped me realize that everything that most of the aspect of people’s lives depend on mental health. Dr. H.R. Nagendra talks about the research that have lead to medical journals including topics like asthma, diabetes, hypertension, heart problems, epilepsy, migraines, irritable bowel syndrome, neuroticism, schizophrenia, mental retardation – all these are modern and serious diseases. He summarizes that yoga can be an essential factor in these cases “Yoga can be of extremely great value as an adjunct to the modern medical system to begin with and gradually with yoga, it can normalise most of these ailments. My fitness routine is focused around flexibility, and recovery during my sore days. I tend to stress myself out alot, and work myself out too much. I want to continue to learn more about meditation practices and yoga positions that will help me relax more.

I thought that it was really interesting to learn how healing yoga actually is. The fact that it is used to help PTSD patients as well as those with anxiety for example, inspired me to look deeper into the yoga practice so that I can possible ease my anxiety. It is quite amazing how we can train our minds to look deeper into ourselves and become completely aware of our breathing and body movements. I think that I will enjoy this class because it will not only help me grow as a person, but help me physically because I am a competitive runner. Stretching, moving and balancing will definitely help me in the long term as a runner. What I also like is that it takes me into another world for a little while. Away from technology and the stresses of daily life.

I have a lot of physical disabilities so I was scared about having to take a physical education course, but I knew it was necessary. I thought it would be good for both my physical and mental health, and this video just blew my mind with the sheer amount of things yoga can help. I have a lot of problems with irritable bowel syndrome and depression I was so impressed and stunned that yoga which I had previous thought as just relaxing and calming could really help me with things I struggle with frequently. Doctor Nagendra talked about this as well as a lot of other more serious diseases that yoga can help with such as schizophrenia, diabetes and mental retardation. Yogi Amrit Desai talked about how what is under the surface is dangerous. He talks about how we can disengage from the invisible part because that is the cause of the visible symptoms. Stress is what causes and is related to almost 80-85% of illnesses. Yoga has been scientifically proven to reduce stress and in doing so reduces long term effects of chronic illnesses and just any illnesses that stress is related to. Stress and dealing with it is another thing I struggle with so I am really looking forward to learning through yoga this semester how to better myself and use these practices in my everyday life.

The video was reassuring to my prior knowledge of the healing properties that work alongside with the practice of yoga. I have always been a firm believer on the importance of health between the mind, body and soul. Yoga and meditation are very much apart of maintaining those three crucial components of life and this video helped further that belief. It seems that the “science behind yoga” is growing to be accepted as a practical form of treatment for various illnesses and its about time the push for this comes. In my opinion the world would be a better place if people medicated with yoga rather than a prescription drug. Admittedly, my participation in these practices has been little to none and I hope to change that with this course, while gaining the knowledge and experience so that i can actively practice outside of the class.

I have done yoga before, and have learned so many things about my body and mind while doing it but this video has given me so much information from a vast amount of people and I’m internally grateful for it. What caught my attention the most is the fact that 80-85% of physical/ mental illness are stress related. I have a lot of stress in my life due to the amount of work, and school involved in my life. Yoga is a key factor to managing stress. Not only does the video talk about stress, but a woman also brought up the idea of loneliness as well. Yoga brings people together, and helps other realize that they are not alone. Being with others is a huge part in healing the feeling of loneliness and involving conversation and similarities. In the beginning Dr. H.R. NAGENDRA works with S-VYASA Yoga University which has published nearly 500 research papers on leading medical journals. They have come to the conclusion that yoga can help with asthma, diabetes, hypertension, heart problems, epilepsy, migraines, irritable bowel syndrome, and neuroticism. WOW! All of this is news to me and I am truly amazed and so excited to relive the stress and anxiety within myself.

i just want to say thank you for letting me be a part of this class. I wont say that I do yoga all the time or that I’m a yogi but I have done yoga in the past and I absolutely loved it! I took about 5 years off of school and came back two years ago to finish and ever since it has been very hard to balance a full time job and night school so yoga fell out of my routine. When I saw that I could take yoga this semester I was very excited because I thought to myself what a perfect way to get back into it and since I will be graduating this May, I will have the time to continue yoga after. I noticed that I have a lot of stress and anxiety and the main reason I do not go see a doctor about it is because i don’t want them to just prescribe me something so I started doing yoga to help me cope with the anxiety that I have. This might sound crazy but sometimes I forget to breathe and yoga just brings me down to earth and helps me realize that everything will be okay. I loved how how of the yoga teachers does yoga for veterans and prisoners. I think it is a great idea and very helpful for them since they can feel lost at times. This class is already motivating me to get back into having yoga be a part of my daily routine that I signed up to take classes and am attending on my days that I do not have class. See you on Monday!

The question of if yoga promotes physical and mental health has never been a mystery to me. The answer was just simply yes in my mind. I have always loved doing Yoga. It always gave me a sense of peace. I have always dealt with a lot of stress in my life and they only thing that was ever able to help me was yoga. I believe it is because yoga allows you to slow down but it’s still active enough so that you can still be present in the moment. I found it interesting when the video said that ancient sages believed that yoga was connected to the science of happiness, mental freedom and mental wellness. I believe that , like the video said, a large portion of the reason that Yoga can give a person a higher sense of happiness and mental wellness and freedom is because of the sense of balance yoga creates. Not only are you balancing yourself physically but spiritually as well.
The video stated that 95 percent of physical and mental illness are due to stress. I believe the balance yoga gives helps to manage stress. From the Video i have learned that yoga helps balance you internally by facilitating homeostasis and improving autonomic nervous system and the central nervous system. To my surprise a study showed yoga reduces 33 percent of depression, 26 percent of anxiety and 34 percent of psychological distress. I notice within myself that if i stop doing yoga for a couple weeks my anxiety increases as well as my stress levels. It was cool to discover that yoga helps others with these problems. I don’t know if yoga will work for everyone, but after seeing the video I think you could definitely argue that it’s worth a shot to just try it out.

It’s quite shocking knowing that although scientifically yoga is not proven people still believe in its ability to work on the mind and body. It’s truly inspiring knowing its powers work because personally is has worked well on me. Before I never thought much about yoga and thought of it as merely an exercise tool, but I didn’t realize how beneficial it is to relieve stress. As someone who suffers with stress and panic attacks nearly every day, I was taught breathing exercises, but I knew it was not enough. Yoga actually relieves the stress physically in the body. When I am actively doing poses in yoga, I feel all the bad energy leaving my body and the good energy coming in. After a yoga class my body feels completely relaxed. It’s true how we live in a world full of unpredictability and stress where nearly everybody suffers from. Scientifically the stress can cause many major physical ailments. It’s hard to find the time to relax for a moment because we are so busy in our lives. Everybody should definitely try yoga to see if it does make a change in themselves and then maybe they will truly start to believe in it.

Yoga is physical activity backed by scientific evidence with the intent of re establishing homeostasis in the body. Yoga does this by balancing the autonomic nervous system with the central nervous system. Asanas, or yoga poses, and breathing techniques help modern medicine mitigate the effects of serious illnesses such as cancer and mental retardation. Yoga can also help with mental illness such as reducing depression by 33%, and 26% reduction in anxiety, and 34% overall reduction of psychological distress. Positive findings also included increase of resilience, mental health and functioning. Yoga, contrary to what science said many years ago, actually changes the brain and creates pathways by using breathing and mindful movement. As a result, we balance the nervous systems in our bodies and are healthier as a result.
My impressions of this video was not one of surprise. Though I was engaged the whole video, I have for a long time been hearing of the amazing effects of yoga. The statistics regarding the reduction of stress were especially interesting because there are still many people who think that yoga is a pseudoscience and not really beneficial. In my experiences, I have seen many positive effects of yoga. Especially since taking Professor Broglin’s Intensive Hatha class, I have experienced less physical body pains, and more resilience when it comes to managing my anxiety. I also have a higher self esteem and my moods are more manageable.
I read a book on spirituality called “Chakra Healing: How to Unblock, Awaken and Balance Your Chakras for Complete Self Healing”, and there was a chapter on yoga where they reviewed all the asanas and mudras to help with chakra realignment. I have not taken many yoga classes but after reading that book I began doing yoga asanas every day. My go-to is my Warrior 1 pose to help my root chakra. I had a lot of lower back pain and it was because I did not feel secure enough to hold myself up right. I also have been practicing breathing regulation, and mindfulness in order to have a peaceful mind and healthy body. Eventually, I hope to become a yoga teacher myself!

As our tools of measurement change, so does our truth. The comparison of experimentation or rather the parallel, the way that Yoga and science resemble each other greatly in that something is attempted with an intention and a result occurs. The action is attempted again in an effort to see if the same result takes place. As an art student, I can relate to the notion that a relaxed, calm mind makes accessing/navigating that which uncharted more easy. It is of the upmost importance that the artist is in touch with their mind, and having an awareness of the body and its comfortability are essential to a functioning mind capable of making connections and forming new ideas.
Alignment is both a scientific and yoga term, further justifying the connection therein.

This semester I needed one more extra class for extra credit so I went and picked yoga and honestly it’s the best decision I’ve ever made. Learning about yoga opened my mind a lot more about how to find peace within yourself. One thing I learned from this video is that doctors recommend to their patient’s yoga because yoga has physical benefits. Over the past 5 years, more and more people have been doing yoga for their health. One thing I realized is that many people no matter what age do yoga, in the video I saw a little girl and a little boy doing yoga and the video spoke about how yoga helps prevent diseases for a very long time. Yoga helps many problems like asthma, diabetes, heart problems, migraines etc. I also learned that 2 ailments are loneliness and stress. It reduces stress, 33 reductions of depression and a 26% reduction of anxiety. It provides better brain health. Yoga changes your brain and how you do things a lot better. When you improve in your brain your central nervous system will function much better as well. Another thing I learned is that yoga helps you keep balance in and outside of your body.

When I started hearing about yoga left and right, I never understood just how good it was for the body. I always just saw it as a destressor but after watching “The New Science Behind Yoga” I’ve learned that it is so much more than that and can actually heal the body not just mentally or spiritually, but also physically. One of the interesting things the video brought up that I never thought about was just how much stress plays a role in illness (I think the number was as high as 80%), and how people who do yoga are able to release a lot of that stress on their body and actually heal some ailments they may have. That is something that almost sounds futuristic in a way. It is pleasant to see that doctors are embracing yoga and telling patients to do it to help them, especially in a world so overrun by pharmaceuticals and people too quick to just take a pill for any issues they have.
It has been an eye opener to see that it isn’t just about spirituality. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, but it is pleasant to see that doctors and fellow peers alike all talk about what yoga can really do for you. It is more than anything I thought it was and I am excited to partake in the experience and hope to see how yoga helps to heal and shape myself.